Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Poultry Microbiological Safety and Processing Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #374269
Research Project: Production and Processing Intervention Strategies for Poultry Associated Foodborne Pathogens

Location: Poultry Microbiological Safety and Processing Research Unit

Title: In vivo and in vitro assessment of commercial probiotic and organi acid feed additives in broilers challenged with Campylobacter coli

Author
item MURTADA, MUHAMMAD - University Of Georgia
item Cosby, Douglas
item SHANMUGASUNDARAM, REVATHI - University Of Georgia
item SELVARAJ, RAMESH - University Of Georgia

Submitted to: Journal of Applied Poultry Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/12/2020
Publication Date: 3/9/2020
Citation: Murtada, M., Cosby, D.E., Shanmugasundaram, R., Selvaraj, R. 2020. In vivo and in vitro assessment of commercial probiotic and organi acid feed additives in broilers challenged with Campylobacter coli. Journal of Applied Poultry Research. p. 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japr.2020.02.001.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japr.2020.02.001

Interpretive Summary: Campylobacter continues to be a human health problem related to poultry and poultry products. Two methods being used by producers to reduce or eliminate this contamination are commercial probiotic cultures and direct fed organic acid additives. This experiment used supernatants from probiotic cultures and organic acid feed additives in vitro to determine the ability of Campylobacter coli to grow. The best individual probiotic and the best organic acid feed additives were used separately and in combination to determine which was best suited to reduce or eliminate Campylobacter coli in broiler chicks after being challenged at day 14 of growth. The combined treatment reduced the overall levels of Campylobacter coli in the ceca at day 42 by 1.2 logs but this reduction was not significant. Different organic acids and proiotics will be evaluated in the future for efficacy.

Technical Abstract: Campylobacter is a major foodborne pathogen associated with the consumption or handling of raw or undercooked poultry meat. In vitro and in vivo experiments were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of commercial probiotic and organic acid (OA) feed-additives for the reduction of Campylobacter coli. Supernatants from four probiotic strains were co-cultured with C. coli at different dilutions. Probiotic supernatants decreased (P < 0.05) the in vitro proliferation of C. coli at 1:1 supernatant: pathogen dilution for Enterococcus faecium, Bifidobacterium animalis, and Pediococcus acidilactici and 5:1 dilution for L. reuteri. Different concentrations of the organic acid were co-cultured with C. coli in vitro. OA concentration of 0.08% significantly decreased the in vitro proliferation of C. coli (P < 0.05). For the in vivo experiment, 480 Cobb-500 broiler chicks were randomly assigned to four treatments: control (basal diet), probiotic (0.5 kg/ton), organic acid (0.5 kg/ton), or probiotic + OA (probiotic at 0.5 kg/ton from 0 to 28 d of age and OA 0.5 kg/ton from 28 to 42 d of age). Birds were challenged with 1 X 108 CFU/bird of C. coli gentamicin-resistant strain on 14 d of age. At 42 d of age, the combined treatment (probiotic + OA) had a non-significant 1.2-log reduction in Campylobacter coli load in ceca when compared to the positive control treatment (P = 0.08). The probiotic and OA products reduced (P < 0.05) the in vitro proliferation of Campylobacter. However, none of the treatments altered the Campylobacter load in ceca or on carcass at 42 d of age.